goal setter, stationery addict, planner girl, volunteer

Valentine’s Day Series: Stationery, gifts and ideas to be more thoughtful than costly

This week, I wanted to share with you a whole bunch of amazing products and ideas to show people how much you love them… And I’m not just talking about your partner but also ways to show your parents, siblings, friends – anyone really – that you love and care about them.

Now I don’t think I’m a romantic person, by any account and I don’t really do Valentine’s Day myself so I won’t even pretend to be a master of romance. But I’m a huge fan of valentine’s stationery – like kind of obsessively so – I don’t know why, I don’t get it either… I think it’s partly because I don’t like the idea of people doing something for someone they love just once a year so I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day myself but I love the idea of spoiling the person you love and making sure they know that they are loved so the stationery and products associated with it are brilliant for that. I’m one of those people whose hand will automatically draw hearts when I’m trying to randomly doodle on the page.

I do appreciate that Valentine’s Day can also sometimes give people the excuse they’ve been looking for to pamper themselves and their loved ones – it can give a couple who may not be very romantic the chance to be more romantic without feeling too awkward or out of place. You definitely don’t need an excuse to pamper yourselves or your loved ones but sometimes, sadly, you feel like you do – and Valentine’s Day could be a perfect opportunity for that.

Honestly, I think a part of me would like to believe in the fairy tale idea of people always declaring their love for the other and showing their loved ones how much they care on a daily basis. Of course, I’m fully aware that this doesn’t happen often – I know I definitely take my loved ones for granted at times and I’m sure I’m not alone in this either. But I like to think that you just know your loved ones love you, that they care about you and worry about you no matter what happens. I like to think that people will show you that love, care and concern spontaneously throughout the year, through their daily actions or small surprises, simply because they want to. Not because society (and by society, I really mean the commercial industry in this case) has told them they should. (The same goes for you, by the way – it’s a two way street!).

Personally, I’m a huge fan of the small things people do for you. Like one gift I loved was a set of rings from my mum when I was younger. I came home to find them on the pillow, with a handwritten note to say “to my dearest princess”. They weren’t expensive or anything but the fact that she had written a note and made a little bit of effort to show she cared meant the world to me. I remember that feeling of happiness and that’s worth more to me than the more expensive gifts I’ve gotten since.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

– Mary Angelou

So, on that note, I wanted to share a few ideas with you that might help you give that warm fuzzy feeling to your loved ones. A lot of these you could do for anyone you love, not just your partner or someone you’re romantically interested in. You could do some of these for your parents, grandparents, children, siblings, any relative or friend!

These ideas will focus on gifts and activities that you could do together that aim to be thoughtful, something they can treasure. It’s less about money – so most of these gifts will be very inexpensive (unless you want to spend more!) – and more about the value they hold. I’ve personally gotten (and gifted) a number of these so I have first hand experience of how amazing they can be.

Since there’s a few too many for just one post, I’ve decided to do something a little bit different this week. Instead of just one post, I shared the ideas in separate posts throughout the week (don’t worry, there will be enough time to do some of them!). Each of them have been linked right here: